Wednesday 29th April; We left Hopwas about 10:30 heading for Fazeley Junction. Had a mostly dry (apart from a short hail shower not long after setting off) and sunny cruise though still not very warm. Waited to water up at Peel wharf alongside the traders boat Witchcraft with two Skye terriers on board that we had introduced Mabel to in Stone and then while we were watering up Aida from Mercia marina moored alongside us. Moved on, arriving at the bottom of the two Glascote locks in Tamworth with the bottom lock full and gates open for a single hander about to descend from the top lock. Bridie went to assist and ended up doing four locks instead of two! Hudson's boatyard by the top lock was mostly deserted with just 4/5 partly completed grey primed hulls after the death of the boatbuilder last year. We moored up briefly at Armington for Bridie to visit the local Co-op store, to eat lunch and give the dogs some exercise and then moved on through Alvecote and Polesworth. The golf course before Alvecote won't be seeing any golfers any time soon given the length of the grass and the number of dandelions on the greens! Drawing near to Atherstone we passed under the west coast main line again and followed it closely through the narrows rounding a bend towards bridge 50 where we moored for the night. A favoured spot we heve moored here a few times before climbing the Atherstone flight. The railway is partly hidden from view behind a small hill and there is a good view with no road noise to speak of. Walked the dogs up to Grendon wharf and back before dinner and had a peaceful evening once the last boats had passed.
Thursday 30th April; Started wet, rather windy and cold so we didn't rush to set off after taking the dogs for a walk electing to stay in the warmth from the fire which we have managed to keep in for several days now. temperatures are falling to fairly low numbers each night still even though we have not seen frost since our first few days on board. By mid day it seemed to have improved and we decided to brave the wind and set off, watering up just before the bottom lock. There are eleven locks at Atherstone and they start in pairs with about half a mile between the pairs. As we ascended we had another boat following hard on our heels and we only had two locks in our favour as we passed one boat at the bottom and one boat at the very top. Either the temperature improved or we warmed up from the work involved! At most locks I managed to get PO lined up and slowed down so that I could step off and climb the steps to help Bridie shut the pair of bottom gates once PO was safely and slowly in the lock. We would then open the top paddles Bridie move on to the next lock and I would open the single gate move PO out, shut the gate and open the lower paddle for the following boat before moving on to the next (by which time Bridie would have the gates open). We had help at a couple of locks from volunteers who were out picking litter, painting lock gates (white on the second lock up), cleaning up dog mess!, and mowing lock sides (with a hand mower - too much bother with H&S to use a motor mower and handle petrol!) With all eleven locks behind us we arrived at Atherstone moorings after about two hours. The old coal yard has been tidied since we last went through here and the office looks used now but no coal. Moored up for the night in time for a quick visit to the shops except that Thursday is half day closing, however we did find the Co-op was open.
Not the best of mooring spots in Atherstone, outside peoples gardens and opposite a factory which I am sure has been derelict for as long as we have been boating and very much on the locals dog walk circuit! However we were moored just in front of three trading boats with the GUCC motor Stanton moored right behind
- his bow is so high out of the water it is nearly above the level of our 'pramhood'.
Friday May 1st; Spent the morning around Atherstone. Had a look for some new floor covering for our kitchen area but found nothing suitable on offer. Another quick shop in the Co-op and a look at the trading boats sculptures and art work before setting off through Hartshill past the old BW yard that was closed up but now in use again.
Although the Ashby is a deviation from our intended route, the Ashby branch canal is a favourite of ours. It is only about 22 miles long, that being the currently navigable length of its 30 original miles and there are no locks - so it will be a bit of a holiday for us!. Also we have friends who live close to the canal in Stoke Golding who we hope to meet up with.
At Marston Junction nb Vixen was just turning onto the Ashby branch having come from the Coventry direction and we followed immediately behind closely followed by nb Aida
After about three miles we moored up outside Burton Hastings just before the permit holder moorings, boating over for another day. Weather seems to be better now than while we were cruising I had got quite cold on the back of the boat today.
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